LANDMARK JUDGMENT
Ramsamooj v The State of Suriname
A landmark ruling at the Caribbean Court of Justice on the free movement rights of CARICOM nationals.
Matter overview
Justin Phelps SC led for the claimant, the Trinidad and Tobago political analyst Derek Anand Ramsamooj, in proceedings before the Caribbean Court of Justice in its Original Jurisdiction. The matter concerned Mr Ramsamooj's detention in Paramaribo from October 2020 under a Surinamese restriction order, the "beperking", which permitted his detention while denying him direct access to a lawyer.
Detained for nearly two years and having suffered a stroke in custody, Mr Ramsamooj challenged the order as incompatible with the right to freedom of movement guaranteed to CARICOM nationals under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. The case raised the relationship between a member state's domestic criminal procedure and the minimum human-rights baseline required by Community law.
Strategic approach
The case was argued on the footing that free movement is not a bare right of entry, but carries with it a guarantee of fair treatment once a CARICOM national is within a member state. The submissions advanced three connected propositions:
- That Article 40(2) of the Surinamese Code of Criminal Procedure, in denying access to counsel at the investigative stage, fell below the minimum human-rights standard required by Community law.
- That such a deprivation, applied to a visiting CARICOM national, unlawfully impeded the right to free movement under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
- That the breach caused real and compensable harm, supported by medical evidence of the claimant's deterioration in detention, warranting an award of non-pecuniary damages.
The claimant's team comprised Justin Phelps SC with Narvindra Ramnanan and Chase Pegus, instructed alongside Surinamese counsel Milton Castelen.
Result
On 25 May 2026 the Caribbean Court of Justice, presided over by President Winston Anderson, held that Suriname had breached Mr Ramsamooj's treaty right to freedom of movement and awarded him US$30,000 in non-pecuniary damages.
The Court found that Article 40 of the Surinamese Code of Criminal Procedure, insofar as it deprived a detainee of access to counsel without a sufficient compensatory framework, could not be reconciled with the minimum human-rights baseline of Community law. The judgment stands as binding regional authority on the rights of CARICOM nationals.
